Footwear



March 14, 1944. s. PEPlToNE 2,344,057

' f FOOTWEAR,

F'iled Dec. '24, 1941 y 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 'vf/fifa |NVENTOR ,Sa/J Pepa/:150132 B ATTORNEYS March 14, 1944. s. Pr-:PrroNE 2,344,057

rjooTwEAn Filed Dec. 24, 1941;? 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 c INVEN'roR. )Sal Pay/one @www ATroRNEY Patented Mar. 14, 1944 FOOTWEAR Sal Pepitone, New York, N. Y., assignor, by mesne assignments, to La Marquise Footwear, Inc., a corporation of New York Application December 24, 1941, Serial No. 424,253

7 Claims.

The present invention relates to footwear and has a particular field of utility in slippers for ladies boudoir use.

It is among the objects of the invention to provide footwear of the above type, which shall afford enhanced comfort in wear and shall be durable in use and which may be produced expeditiously at relatively low cost, largely by machine-work and with a minimum of hand-work, but shall yet alford assurance of neatness and accuracy in workmanship difficult to attain even by the most careful hand-work, and have the earmarks of a costly hand-made or custom-made article.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown one or more of various possible embodiments of the several features Iof the invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the slipper,

Fig. 2 is a view in longitudinal cross-section on a slightly larger scale taken on line 2-42 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is a view in transverse section taken on line 3-3 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a view in transverse cross-section taken on line 4--4 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a partly assembled sole with the edge of the binding turned up at the heel,

Fig. 6 is a view on a larger scale showing the draw-string feature,

Fig. '7 is a perspective view of the fiber board element of the reinforced sole body,

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of the felt element of said body,

- Fig. 9 is a perspective view showing the assembly of the sole elements of Figs. 5, '7 and 8,

Fig. 10 is a perspective view showing a spongerubber heel cushion,

Fig. 11 is a perspective View showing the assembly of Figs. 9 and 10,

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the upper and insole assembly,

Fig. 13 is a detailed enlarged view in trans- Verse cross-section taken yon line I3I3 of Fig. 1, and

Fig. 14 is a perspective View with the undersole partly removed, of another embodiment.

The article of footwear, shown as a slipper, as appears from the perspective view of Fig. 1 and the sections of Figs. 2, 3 and 4, comprises generally speaking, an assembly of an upper U, stitched by ornamental hand stitching I6 to a sole assembly S.

The sole assembly and the method of manufacture thereof is best shown in Figs. 5 to 11. The sole includes a body made up of a fibre or paper board sole piece I1, to the underface of which there isr adhesively attached the heel I3 usually of cork, wood, felt or paper and to the upper face of which is riveted as at I9 a narrow spring steel reinforcing stri-p 20. Over the element of edge and on both sides thereof. A drawstring 26 is slidably anchored in place under the zigzag stitch at the outer face of the binding. The drawstring 26 is readily applied by the sewing machine in making the zigzag stitch 25. 'Ihe binding 24 is completely turned upward (it being shown partly so turned at the right in Fig. 5) to encompass the enclosed sole elements of Figs. '7 and 8. The drawstring is now drawn tight by hand and knotted in place at 21. In this tautening of the drawstring, the upstanding wall of the binding strip is automatically laid down neatly at 28 over the felt with an unpuckered and straight, securely fitting width 29 of binding 24 about the thickness of the sole. Desirably, the binding is further tacked at the narrow or central portion of the sole assembly by two or three coarse stitches of strong thread as at 30.

By resort to the drawstring arrangement set forth, the binding strip is thus secured with great expedition and perfect neatness and this at a cost of but a fraction of that involved in attempting manually to press inward and retain such binding by hand-stitching operation.

In a desirable embodiment there is superposed over the sole piece shown in Fig. 9, a yielding, preferably a resilient, heel cushion fitted to the form of the heel. This cushion may comprise a fiat sheet 3l of sponge rubber preferably backed by a narrower and shorter` strip 32 of felt or equivalent yielding material longitudinally thereof and adhesively secured thereto. If desired, the cushion may be of felt. The unit of Fig. 10 is then super-posed over the heel of the assembly of Fig. 9 and adhesively secured thereto with the felt piece 32 in hidden relation, as Ibest Ashown in Fig. 11.

The upper, shown in Fig. 12, includes the inner sole l5, a vamp piece 33 both desirably tapebound as at 34 and stitched together in a unit U as readily understood.

The sole assembly of Fig. 11 and the .uppery of Fig. 12 are now combined to produce the slipper of Fig. 1. For thispurpose, the cross Ihandstitch-` ing I6 is desirably used to connect the binder 34 of the insole in Fig.. l2 to the binding strip 24 of the sole assembly of Fig. 11. In this Ystitching operation, the sponge-rubber or felt cushion 3l is snugly compressed between the sole Aassembly and theinner sole I5, so. that the sponge-rubber or felt 3l becomes longitudinally bowed about the narrower felt backing 32 thereof, as best shown in Figs. 2 and 4.

By reason of the neat tucking in of the sole binding 24, with the drawstring arrangement set forth and by reason of the hand-stitching connection i6 between the upper U and the sole assembly S and by reason of the attractive conveXity of the heel, with its yielding cushion effect, the slipper has the appearance of being entirely handmade. The compressed sponge-rubber or felt heel piece alfords extraordinary comfort in use.

In the embodiment of Fig. 14, a modification is shown in which the body of the sole structure, that is, the parts made up of the elements of Figs. 7 and 8 are encompassed by a binding 4i] which is made part of the upper U rather than part of the undersole. In this embodiment, the rubber or felt element of Fig. 10 may be attached directly to the felt piece of Fig. 8. The lower edge of the binding 40 on the upper is provided with the same drawstring arrangement 4| as in the other embodiment, so that when drawn in place, the free edge lii' of the binding strip extends inward under the sole body. The undersole G2 is then attached in place desirably by adhesive to conceal the inturned edge 4G and drawstring 4l of the binding strip. The embodiment described in this paragraph is specifically claimed in co-pending application Serial No. 500,- '768 dated September 1st, 194B.

It will be understood that while the invention nds its preferred application to boudoir slippers for ladies, it is not limited tosuch use, but might be applied to other articles of footwear.

As many changes could be made in the above construction, and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description, shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A slipper comprising a sole assembly, including an undersole, having a binding stitched about the peripheral edge thereof, a reinforced sole body encompassed by said binding, said binding having zigzag stitching about the free periphery thereof, .a drawstring retained by said zigzag stitching and being taut and thereby retaining the edge of the binding inward in superposed relation over the sole body, a sponge-rubber heel cushion over the heel of said sole body, and having a narrower underlying strip of fibre and a fabric upper including an insole superposed over the sole assembly, yand having an edge overlapping and peripherally stitched in place to the binding, said insole being thereby maintained stretched over the rubber cushion throughout the entire width of said heel, the lateral edge of said cushion being compressed under the tension of said stitching.

2. A slipper comprising a sole assembly including an under sole, having a binding stitched about the periphery thereof, a reinforced sole body comprising a fibre board sole piece having a heel a'ixed thereto and having a reinforcing narrow spring steel strip riveted thereto, a felt sole piece superposed over the fibre board, said binding encompassing the fibre board and felt sole pieces and having a zigzag stitch near the outer periphery thereof, a drawstring retained in place by said stitch and in taut relation, thereby retaining the binding with its edge neatly drawn inward and superposed over the edge of the felt sole piece, a sponge-rubber cushion element mounted upon the heel end of said sole assembly, and an upper, including an inner sole superposed over the sole assembly and having an edge overlapping and peripherally stitched at its rim to the binding of said sole assembly and thereby compressing the sponge-rubber heel cushion for longitudinally bowed cushioning conformation thereof.

3. As an article of manufacture, a sole assembly for footwear comprising a fibre board sole piece, having a heel aflixed thereto and having a reinforcing narrow spring steel strip rivetedr thereto, a felt sole piece superposed over the fibre board, said assembly including an undersole having a fabric binding peripherally stitched thereto and encompassing the fibre board and felt sole pieces, said binding having a loose zigzag stitch near the outer periphery thereof, and a drawstring retained in place by said stitch and in taut relation, thereby retaining the binding with its edge neatly drawn inward and superposed over the edge of the felt sole piece, stitches retaining the opposite median portions of the binding over the felt piece, and a sponge-rubber heel cushion having a narrower longitudinal strip of felt adhesively attached to the underface thereof and adhesively aflixed in place.

4. An article of footwear comprising a sole structure, an inner sole structure, a resilient heel cushion comprising a blank of uniform thickness with a narrower compressible strip adhesively and medianly secured longitudinally thereof, said inner sole structure having an edge overlapping the side wall of the sole structure, and tightly attached with respect thereto, thereby compressing the lateral edges of the heel cushion to maintain said heel cushion in bowed relation between the sole structure and the inner sole.

5. An article of footwear comprising a sole structure-having a binding snugly encompassing the edge thereof, a yielding cushion resting upon the heel portion of said sole structure, an upper having an insole unitary therewith with a lateral edge extending downward to overlap the upper part of the binding edge and directly and tightly stitched thereto, thereby to maintain the cushion in bowed compressed state between the heel portion of the sole and the heel portion of the insole.

6. An article of footwear comprising a sole having a lateral wall structure, an upper structure including an inner sole as a part thereof, a yielding heel cushion interposed between the heel of the sole structure and the heel end of the inner sole, the edge of said inner sole overlapping and being peripherally and tightly stitched directly against the lateral wall of said sole structure.

7. A slipper comprising a multiple sole body, binding connecting the elements thereof together as a unitary structure, with the edge of said binding superposed over said sole body, a

f sponge rubber heel cushion over the heel of said sole body and an upper including an insole superposed over the sole structure and having an edge overlapping part of the thickness of said sole body and peripherally and tightly stitched in place to said binding, said insole being thereby maintained stretched over the rubber cushion throughout the entire width of said heel, the lateral edge of said cushion being sharply compressed under the tension of said stitching.

SAL PEPITONE. 

